Sugarcane is an important crop with a significant contribution in the food and renewable energy industries. However, the planting system with stalks and billets has evolved little since its establishment and expansion to different regions. Planting is the most expensive and important operation for sugarcane farms, and the success of the plant crop can affect yields to out the crop cycle, including multiple ratton crops. The traditional planting method demands a high quantity of stalks, ranging from 16 to 20 ton/ha for manual and mechanized planting respectively. This practice represents 30 to 40% of the planting costs and diverts stalks that otherwise would be used for sugar or alcohol production. According to estimates from the Center of Technology for Sugarcane (CTC), sugarcane mills with a renovation rate of 17% must dedicate around 5% of their planted area for the production of planting material. Generally, billets for conventional planting have around 35-40 cm with an average of 3 buds.
Although this expensive planting system with large amount of planting material represents a disadvantage, with big billets or whole stalks it is more likely to preserve moisture and nutrients and establish an adequate number of tillers compared to shorter billets, especially under dry weather conditions. In the past 3 years, alternatives using 5 cm mini-setts with one bud were tried. However, dependency of distant biofactories, reproduction issues, transportation on refrigerated containers and high sensitivity to unfavorable conditions made the system not commercially viable.
Various references discuss methods for growing sugarcane. For example, US 20100251434A1 provides a method for growing sugarcane, wherein one-node stem sections are treated to retain moisture with latex, paraffin and polymers coating. US 2010/0251435 provides another growing sugarcane method wherein at least one-node stem sections are stored at under 15° C. before being planted. US 20100251436A1 also provides a growing sugarcane method wherein only one-node stem sections, of about 2 to 12 cm, are treated with plant protection chemicals such as a fungicide, insecticide, miticide, termiticide, acaricide, molluscicide, nematicide, herbicide or plant activator.
Among the plant protection chemicals, US 20100251436A1 recites thiamethoxam, azoxystrobin, imidacloprid, fipronil, abamectin, clothianidin, chlorantraniprole, mefenoxam, fludioxonil and cyproconazole. US 20100257640A1 further provides a method of growing sugarcane plants based on the preparation of at least one-node cuts and subjecting them to a coating containing a binder, selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl acetates, polyvinyl acetate copolymers, and celluloses. EP 2005812A1 discloses a method for growing sugarcane based on planting cuts of one bud per stem sections, wherein compounds such as nutrients, fertilizers, micronutrient donors, biological agents, pesticides and/or safeners can be applied to the specified locus. However, none of these methodologies provide a robust and cost effective system for the industry. The present invention addresses this need.